Recipes

All recipes found on this page will be weighed out in grams unless otherwise noted. You will need a digital scale for most recipes. Also you should have a Sous Vide Machine, Food Processor, Stand Mixer and Blender in your kitchen arsenal.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Yields 6 Biscuits

400g All Purpose flour

18g Baking Powder

4g Baking Soda

30g Sugar

11g Kosher Salt

1g Black Pepper

180g Unsalted Butter

265g Buttermilk

34g egg

Biscuits are by far one of my favorite go to breakfast items. A nice warm flaky biscuit with honey or jelly is delicious. I love biscuits with a great sausage gravy, but that is for another time and recipe. Lets start with delicious drop style biscuits. You can add whatever herbs you like to this recipe to add a little more flare. Just mince some up and toss in with the dry ingredients. I prefer chives, parsley, sage or thyme. Enjoy.

To have a really great biscuit you need great butter. You want to choose a high quality butter at your local grocery store. Look to buy brands like Clover or Kerrygold. Also shoot to find a good buttermilk. Biscuits are so simple in ingredients that the better the ingredients the better the biscuit.

You want to make sure your butter is cold and it helps to have cold flour to. I like to make my biscuits in a cast iron pan at home, or on a sheet tray at the restaurant. Any oven safe pan should work just fine if you don't have either one.

Preheat Oven 425 degrees F*

First dice your butter into pea size cubes. Break apart the pieces that stick together and store on plate in the refrigerator 5-10 minutes. This will give your butter time to chill after being handle and exposed to heat from your hands.

Next weigh dry ingredients and sift together into mixing bowl, add salt and pepper after sifting process and incorporate evenly.

Once your butter has had time to chill, add it to the bowl of dry ingredients until fully incorporated. You want to make sure all the butter in covered in flour and separated from each other. This may take a few moments, but work fast because you don't want to heat up the butter with your hands.

After your butter is incorporated you can add 260g of buttermilk to the dry mixture. Fully mix dough together by hand. Again work fast so yo don't heat up the butter. Once your dough is mixed you will want to fold one side over the other, working clockwise until you have created four folds.

Now you can use a #6 ice cream scoop or form by hand into 3in balls. Ive also rolled the biscuits out to about a 1/2 - 3/4in thick and cut them in to triangles or circles. But were going for a drop biscuit style here.

Scoop out each ball of dough and set in pan. Once all the dough is scooped push down the top of each dough ball to flatten the shape.

After all the dough is flattened mix egg and remaining buttermilk together.

Brush the tops of each biscuit with egg wash. Making sure the tops are fully covered.

Place in oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and bottom edges are browned nicely.

When biscuits are done let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy with your favorite jelly, butter or honey.

Braised Beets and Skordalia

Yields 4 portions

Beets

555g Beets (red and gold)

4g cinnamon stick

4g Thyme Sprigs

1g bay leaf

1g peppercorn

1g crushed garlic clove

1g cumin seeds or ground cumin

1g whole all spice or ground

21g kosher salt

50g red wine vinegar

208g hot water

Preheat oven to 350* degrees F

This dish has become one of my favorites by far recently. We decided to do this dish at the restaurant because it makes people become adventurous with beets, especially the ones that don't like them. There is so much flavor going on just with the braised beets and then you serve it on top of skordalia, it takes it to a whole new level. The flavor profile is amazing. Skordalia is a puree of potatoes, bread and garlic. It goes great with meat and bread, but its on a different level with the tangy beets. The puree is heavy on the garlic, so if your not a garlic person you may need to tone it down or it might not be for you. But make it with the amount it calls for and try it with the beets and you'll be amazed.

First wash the beets under water to get any remaining dirt off of them. If using different colored beets make sure to keep separate in braising dishes as the red beets will color the gold beets.

Next mix all the dry ingredients in your 5x8 braising dish, add vinegar and then water. Mix together until salt is dissolved.

Set your beets in the the mixture. Make sure the liquid level in about half way up the sides of the beets, but not immersing them.

Cover with plastic wrap and foil.

Braise for 1 hour or until fork tender. If using large beets it may take up to 2 hours.

Skordalia

230g Peeled Yukon or Russet Potatoes

73g sourdough or French bread

8g sliced garlic cloves

9g rosted garlic

10g toasted almonds (slivered)

10g sherry vinegar (capirete)

35g water

4g kosher salt

55g olive oil

Dill

Scallions

Fleur De Sel (French Sea Salt)

While waiting for your beets to braise you want to make your skordalia.

First peel your potatoes and get them on the stove top. Bring to boil and cook until falling apart with the touch of a fork.

Next cut the crust off your bread and discard it. Rip your bread into 2-3 inch pieces. Soak in warm water for 10-15 minutes.

When potatoes are done, drain and set aside. Pull bread out of water and squeeze remaining water out until it form a ball.

Once your potatoes and bread balls are ready you'll build your puree.

Add bread, garlic, almonds and salt together into a food processor. Blend until mixed together. Add vinegar and potatoes one by one until mixed thoroughly.

Add water. Once water is incorporated slowly pour olive oil into food processor until emulsified.

Store skordalia in container and refrigerator for at least one hour. You want the flavors to develop.

Check your beets with a fork. Once they are done you want to peel them while they are still warm. You can use a rag or paper towel. Make sure to remove all the skin. It should just come right off.

Cut the beets in wedges or slices. Toss beets in a bowl with a splash of olive oil and sherry vinegar. Let cool in refrigerator for at least an hour.

Once you are ready to assemble put a scoop of skordalia on the bottom of the plate. Arrange beets on top of puree, setting the different ways. This especially looks nice when you have multiple colored beets. Garnish with scallions, dill sprigs, olive oil and fleur de sel.

Farro Wheat Salad

Yields 6-8 portions

350g Farro Wheat Semi Pearled

232g Fennel bulb (brunoise)

75g onion (brunoise)

5g chives (minced)

15g dill (chopped)

25g parsley (minced

11g mint (chiffonade)

142g golden raisins

33g Toasted Pine nuts

25g Sugar

23g kosher salt

2g pepper

1g Aleppo or Crushed Red Pepper

15g Sherry Vinegar

125g Lemon Juice

51g Olive Oil

Farro is a great alternative for a starch with lots of dishes. At the restaurant we serve it with a pan roasted Salmon filet, ouzo glaze and some mint and aleppo for garnish. Farro goes great with chicken and quail too. This is also a great dish to serve for a gathering because you just toss everything together and let it sit overnight. Pull it out and serve cold or room temperature.

Get a stock pot on the stove and add some oil, just enough to cover the bottom of the pot. When it's nice and hot add the farro, stirring with a wooden spoon to cover with oil. Your toasting the Farro to add a nice depth of flavor and bring the nuttiness out of the wheat. Do this for about 5 min making sure not to burn the Farro.

After the Farro is toasted add enough water to cover the farro and bring to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil reduce the water to a simmer. I cook farro pasta style. Alway's leave enough water in the pot while cooking and strain when the farro cooks to the right consistency. You want the farro to be soft but still has a bite. If its mushy it is overcooked.

Once the farro is cooked, strain and rinse with cold water. Toss with a little olive oil. Set aside.

Weigh out remaining ingredients and toss with farro. Make sure the farro is completely tossed with ingredients.

Let sit for at least one hour. Overnight if possible.

Pan Seared Ribeye

Yield 1 Steak

1 - 1.5 pound Ribeye Steak

Kosher Salt

Fresh Cracked Pepper

Thyme Sprigs

1 Garlic Clove

1/8 pound Unsalted Butter

Sous Vide Water Circulator

Gallon Storage Bag

12qt Cambro or Plastic Container

Canola Oil

Fleur De Sel

Ribeye Steaks are by far my favorite steaks to cook for dinner. Steaks seem very simple to cook, but the truth is they are actually more difficult then you think. There is multiple temperatures that you can cook a steak to. All the way from blue to well done. If your ordering a steak well done, most respect is lost for you. If you over cook the steak theres no coming back. A perfect Ribeye is med rare. In this recipe I use a Sous vide or water circulator. This helps maintain a perfect temp all the way through the steak up until I lay it in the cast iron pan. Sous Vide is a great technique. I believe any home cook should have one and practice using it. If you do not have a Sous Vide you can salt your steak 30-40 prior and let sit. Pat dry and re-season with salt and pepper and skip sous vide step.

First fill your cambro with hot water, about 8qts. Attach Sous Vide to container and set temperature to 55*C or 130*F. Season your steak liberally with salt and pepper. Place in freezer bag and place the bag into the water. While you place the bag in the water it will push the air out the open seal of the bag. When you almost have the bag submerged make sure all the air is out and seal the bag.

Let steak cook for 1hour 45min.

When the steak is done cooking, pull it out of the bag and let rest for 5 - 10 minutes.

While Steak is resting you will want to get a cast iron skillet or pan big enough for your steak heating up.

Let the pan get really hot, add enough canola oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Let the oil heat up to it's smoke point.

Season steak with some more salt and pepper, be conservative.

Lay steak down in pan facing away from you pressing it firmly against the pan to get a great sear about 1 min.

Flip steak and lay in pan away from you. This time you will add your garlic clove and thyme sprigs. Let those heat up, about 30 seconds.

Add your butter. Your butter will start to brown. Hold the handle of the pan with your less dominant hand. With your dominant hand you will use a spoon to place thyme and garlic on steak. Tilt the pan near you and baste the steak with brown butter using the spoon. Do this for about 30 seconds.

Lemono Cheesecake

Yield 16 Slices

250g Lemon Cookies

45g Melted Butter

50g Cream Cheese

857g Manouri Cheese

321g Eggs

63g Egg Yolks

10g Vanilla

200g Mascarpone

192g Greek Yogurt

Zest of 1 Lemon

25g Lemon Juice

I absolutely love cheesecake. It's so smooth and creamy and just speaks advanced cake baking. But it's actually an easy cake to make. When I decided to do this dessert at the restaurant we knew we wanted something simple, yet approachable, but different. I picked my wife up from work one day and she had just bought Girl Scout cookies. She bought some thin mints and these lemon cookies. I was like " give me some of those lemon cookies." And then its hit me, cheesecake! This is the foundation, I'll alter the basic ingredients and we got our own cheesecake. If you can't find manouri cheese, you can sub all for cream cheese. You can also sub the greek yogurt for sour cream and you got a basic cheesecake. This recipe is more like an Italian cheesecake and not your ever so popular NY cheesecake.

Pre Heat oven 325*F

First you want to weigh out all your ingredients and let it sit out at room temperature for at least an hour. This will help all of your ingredients incorporate more evenly and not leave lumps of cheese when mixing it together.

While your ingredients are sitting out grind your cookies into fine crumbs in a food processor and melt butter on the stove top or in microwave.

Incorporate your crumbs and butter together in a large bowl. Add this to your 9x3 spring form pan and spread evenly around. Make sure there is no cracks in the mix and push it up the side walls about 1/4 in.

Bake in oven for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown.

Pull crust out of the oven and set aside.

Next you will combine the cream cheese, manouri cheese and sugar into a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix on speed 3 for 5 minutes, until the cheese is smooth and has no lumps. Scrape down the sides as needed.

Once the cheese and sugar is mixed add your eggs one at a time on low until each egg is incorporated. Make sure not add eggs to quick or the batter will crystalize.

When batter is done, push through a fine mesh strainer to get any remaining lumps out.

Pour batter into springform pan and smooth out the top with a spatula.

Arrange 3 sheets of foil big enough to cover pan on counter and cross the sheets like a star. Set pan on the foil sheets and fold the foil around the outside of the pan and crimp the foil around the top of the pan, leaving the cake batter exposed.

Set foil wrapped spring form pan into a baking dish and fill with hot water about a 1/2 in up the side of springform pan.

Bake cake for 1 hour or until the cake has a slight jiggle when you move the pan. Make sure to rotate cake after the first 30 minutes. This will help in an even cook of the cake.

Once the cake is done you can the turn the oven off and prop the door open slightly to let the cake finish. Or, what I like to do is pull the cake out and cover the top of cake loosely with foil and let it finish that way. Either way works great. If your cake is over cooked the inside will be crumbly and not creamy. Almost grainy.

Let the cake cool for an hour. After that you can refrigerate the cake over night or until it has cooled and set completely.

Slice the cake into 16 pieces and serve with your favorite coulis, sauce or whip cream.

Pecan Smoked Pork Loin

Yields 16 Medallions

1250g Pork Loin or 2.75lb - 3lb Loin

15g Dijon Mustard

4g Worcestershire Sauce

2g Fish Sauce

10g Granulated Garlic

12g Kosher Salt

10g Brown Sugar

2g Pepper

1g Ground Cumin

Fleur De Sel

Classic Brine- Kosher Salt, Sugar, Baking Soda

So Spring is definitely here and Summer is right around the corner. That means everyone is getting their BBQs out and are ready to start cooking outside. I'm definitely one of those people. Whether you love to grill some burgers or smoke a pork butt low and slow, it's all a great time when the weather is beautiful outside. I got into smoking meat about 4-5 years ago. My wife bought me an off set smoker box cooker and I dove in head first with smoking my favorite cuts. Pork Loin is a cut of meat you don't see very many people smoke on a cooker. But it's a fabulous and inexpensive cut to feed a group of friends. Me and my Executive Chef both agree that the Loin is a crowd pleaser whether it's smoked, grilled, roasted or baked. I whipped this recipe up on my day off real quick and I thought I would share it, Enjoy.

You want to buy your meat a couple days before you plan to use so you can get it into a brine. If you don't plan on brining your meat you should heavily salt it a few hours before you plan to smoke the meat and pat it dry before seasoning it with rub. I advise you brine your meat.

12-18 hours before you plan on prepping your meat you will need to make a brine. The brine is 5% salt, 3% sugar and .5% Baking soda by the whole weight of the water. So weigh your water and if it weighs 1000g multiply your salt by 0.05 and that will give your weight. Same with sugar and baking soda. Mix together until dissolved and set loin in brine overnight.

Pull loin out of Brine the next day and rinse thoroughly. Next you will mix dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and fish sauce together. Lather loin with the mixture. This give you a nice adhesive for the dry rub. Make sure pork is covered with mix.

You will then mix all the dry ingredients together and start to adhere it to the loin. You will have more mixture then you need. Save it for next time. Make sure to cover all the loin. Let sit out while you start the smoker.

Start your smoker according to the cookers manual. I used briquets to heat the box. Only start a few briquets at first and they will slowly ignite the other briquets while they heat up. Look up different briquet methods for your cooker. You want to get your box up to 225*F. Once your box is at temp you can add your chunks to the briquets and add your meat on the indirect side of the cooker. I also always make sure there is a pan of liquid between my meat and the coals to keep moisture in the air.

Keep a nice and steady hold on your temp for the next two hours adding chunks as needed.

When your loin reads 125*F Pull it out and glaze with your favorite sauce.

Add it back to the smoker on the direct side of the heat and cook until 135*F, making sure not to burn the glaze. Rotating the meat when necessary.

Pull meat out of the smoker when internal temp has been reached. Let rest for 10-15 minutes until internal temp registers 140*F-145*F. Sprinkle with a bit of Fleur De Sel. There might be a hint of pink but don't be scared your are not going to get sick.

Slice into 1/4in medallions and serve with favorite side when BBQing.

Pictures on my instagram.

Orzo Pasta Salad

Yields 4qts

1360g Orzo Pasta

212g Red and Green Bell Peppers (brunoise)

193g Red Onion (brunoise)

50g Scallions (sliced)

418g Cherry Tomatoes (halved)

400g Feta Cheese (crumbled)

209 Kalamata Olives (halved)

100g Sherry Vinegar (Capirete)

58g Italian Parsley (chopped)

10g Dry Oregano

6g Ground Thyme

5g Aleppo or Crushed Red Pepper

6g Pepper

24g Kosher Salt

46g Sugar

444g Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pasta salad is a great accompaniment to any grilled, smoked or BBQ item. It's a refreshing side dish for burgers, ribs, grilled chicken, etc. At the restaurant we decided to serve this recipe with a grilled chicken leg and thigh quarter. The Chef and I had it as a quick dish to eat before service and thought it would be a good dish for Spring and Summer. It's super simple and easy for guest to approach. A nice cold crisp beverage out on the patio with this dish and your set.

First you want to get a pot of water going on your stove. Make sure it is enough water to cover the pasta by a few inches. Add enough salt to taste and a splash of olive oil.

While your waiting for your water to boil start weighing out your ingredients.

When the water comes to a boil add your pasta. Stir pasta for a few seconds to make sure the starches don't start to stick to each other.

You want to cook the pasta until its al dente or firm to the bite.

Once your pasta is cooked to desired texture you will want to strain into a colander or china cap.

Rinse with cold water to stop the pasta from over cooking, but just until the pasta is warm. This will help the pasta absorb the flavors as it cools completely.

Once pasta is cooled add it to a mixing bowl and toss lightly with olive oil.

Lets sit for 10 minutes

At this point you should be ready to assemble the salad.

Add the rest of the olive oil, vegetables, cheese and toss.

Then add sherry vinegar and toss.

And finish with the dry ingredients and toss one last time.

Cover bowl and let pasta salad rest for a couple hours or best overnight.

*Note You can sub orzo for mac, penne, tortellini or most any pasta.

Cast Iron Grilled Asparagus

240g Asparagus (Weight after ends cuts off)

100g Lemon (zested and juiced)

10g Garlic cloves (minced)

3g Fleur De Sel

1g Cracked Pepper

Olive Oil

A lot of people ask me what is the best way to cook asparagus and I tell them there are two ways. Cast Iron Pan and a Grill are my two favorite ways to whip up a great side dish of asparagus. But what some people forget is you can use your outdoor grill just like your kitchen burners or oven. I'm a huge fan of using pans while I'm grilling or smoking meats. I mean everything doesn't need fucking grill marks to be good. It's almost underachieving the possibilities of cooking on your grill if your just marking some cross hatches and foil wrapping some corn. Through a pot or pan up there with some beans or get a raging hot cast iron pan and saute some veggies, sear a steak or glaze some potatoes. Think of it like a plancha. A plancha originated in Mexico and is a metal slate that is used for grilling. Originally they used it for corn dough, but you can use it for anything you like.

First you are going to get your grill up to temp with cast iron pan inside and also get a pot of water going on your stove top. Season water with kosher salt, just enough salt to make it taste like ocean water. Bring to a boil.

While your water is coming up to a boil you will want to cut off the bottoms of the asparagus if you haven't already done so. You have the option to peel your asparagus from the bottom of the tip or you can opt out of it. It's nice for presentation and asparagus can be woody at times.

Once your water has reached a raging boil drop your asparagus into the water, be carful not to lower temp to fast. You want to keep a steady boil. This can be achieved by using bigger pots or adding your asparagus slowly.

Boil asparagus just until it has some flex to it. When your asparagus is flexible strain from pot and shock in ice water. This rapidly lowers the temp of the asparagus and keeps it a nice vibrant green color.

Strain from ice water once cooled and set on paper towels to suck of the moisture from the ice bath.

When all your meat and stuff is almost ready add some olive oil to your cast iron pan. Just enough to coat the bottom.

Toss in your asparagus maintaining an even layer and coat with olive oil.

Your asparagus should take on a nice charred look. After about a minute add your minced garlic.

Toss to coat your asparagus making sure not to burn about 15-20 seconds.

Add the juice from the lemon. This will help deglaze the pan a bit.

Transfer asparagus to a plate.

Add a drizzle of olive oil and fresh cracked pepper to coat.

Finish with fleur de sel and lemon zest.

Note* You may also drizzle with balsamic reduction and top with feta cheese or try using flavored oils like lemon or rosemary.

Alkaline Brine (Equilibrium)

1000g Water

50g Kosher Salt

30g Sugar

5g Baking Soda

Brining meat is a very important procedure and is not utilized by many home cooks. Brining meat is a game changer when it comes to cooking proteins and sometimes even vegetables. It is very important to use the brining method on tough cuts of meat or meats that dry out quickly. One of my favorite proteins to brine is pork loin. Everybody always thinks pork will be dry and tough and taste like shit. When you brine a whole loin and cook it for a large group of people they can't believe how moist, tender and juicy the cut of meat is. You still can't over cook the meat but you do have a little more room for error.

The brine I'm showing you here is an equilibrium brine. It is 5% salt by weight of the water. We add 5% salt to the brine but only want 1% of the salt to penetrate through the meat, so over brining can cause over salty meat and have a leathery type look and feel. We also add 3% sugar by weight to balance the saltiness of the brine and we add .5% baking soda by weight to raise the ph level of the brine and help create a more juicy and tender finished product. Like I said over brining can create a bad finished product so heres a little table to help understand how long to brine some meats for.

Chicken Whole- 24-36 hours

Chicken Breast Bone-in- 15-18 hours

Boneless Chicken Breast- 4-8 hours

Porkloin- 24-28 hours

Pork Tenderloin- 8-12 hours

Bone-in Double Cut Pork Chops- 12-14 hours

Steaks- 12-14 hours

Beef Roast- 36-48 hours

Turkey- 48 hours

Fish and Seafood- 30-40 min

Once you have let your protein brine for the times given you must rinse your protein thoroughly to be sure all the salt on the outside of the meat is rinsed off. If you fail to rinse the protein you will leave salt on the outside and it will keep traveling into the meat creating a salty finished product. Brining meats is great method to use at any level of cooking and will greatly raise your level of cooking if you have not yet used the brining method. We brine almost all our proteins at the restaurant and the quality shows. You'd be amazed at how tender and juicy a brine when applied correctly to a protein will turn out in the end. You can also add aromatics to the brine, but be sure to heat the brine up to a quick boil and cool the brine rapidly in a ice bath. After the brine is cooled strain the aromatics out and pour brine over your desired meat and let sit for the times given above.

*Note- I can not stress enough about over brining your proteins. Pay attention, you already spent money on the meat, you don't want to fuck up a beautiful ribeye or pork chop.